Tensions rise as Myanmar mob attacks another mosque: Report

A mob wielding weapons razed a Muslim prayer hall in northern Myanmar, state media reported Saturday, the second attack on a mosque in just over a week as anti-Muslim sentiment swells in the Buddhist majority nation.

Only a week ago, a mosque in Thuye Tha Mein village, Bago province, was destroyed by a mob of Buddhists following an argument between neighbors over the building of a Muslim school

Myanmar has struggled to contain bouts of deadly religious bloodshed in recent years, with bristling sectarian tensions and rising Buddhist nationalism posing a steep challenge to the new government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Friday, villagers in Hpakant, a jade-mining town in northern Kachin state, ransacked a mosque “wielding sticks, knives and other weapons” before burning it down, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.Second attack on mosque in Myanmar

“The mob was unresponsive and entirely beyond control. The building was razed by the riotous crowd,” the paper reported, adding that the rampage was sparked by a dispute over the mosque’s construction. Read More